No lapse in murder probe, say police

Responding to allegations raised by the family of Latvian national Liga Skromane, the Kerala Police have appealed to the people to refrain from propagating misleading claims.

In an official statement, the police said all possible steps were being taken to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of the foreigner. The assistance of the best medico-legal and forensic experts is being taken to investigate the case.

The police maintained that they had acted immediately on getting information about Ms. Skromane having gone missing on March 14. After a case was registered on the basis of complaints at both Kovalam and Pothencode police stations, the information had been relayed through wireless sets and the crime card pertaining to the man-missing case was issued promptly. A team led by two sub-inspectors had conducted a thorough search on the Kovalam beach and nearby areas until 3 a.m. the next day.

A squad of the Thiruvananthapuram rural police shadow wing had launched another intensive search operation on March 15. Four days later, the District Police Chief (Thiruvananthapuram city) deployed senior officials for the ongoing mission.

Later, at the behest of Ms. Skromane’s family, the State Police Chief had further expanded the investigation team and extended the scope of the search.

Since the launch of the probe, the police had inspected 245 hotels and questioned as many as 375 people. Forty CCTV footage and 20 call details had been examined.

The investigating team had recorded the statement of the autorickshaw driver, identified as Shaji aka Santhosh of Pothencode, who had transported Ms. Skromane from the Ayurveda therapy centre near Pothencode to the Kovalam beach on March 14. The driver had been identified after examining CCTV visuals.

He has reportedly identified the body, which was recovered from near Vazhamuttom, as Liga Skromane’s. While he identified her clothes, he claimed that she had not worn the jacket that had been recovered from the spot.

Meanwhile, the State Human Rights Commission has directed the State Police Chief to probe if there had been a laxity in the case investigation.